Ever Unconvinced
by BiOCaAM
Summary: They didn't know how or even why, but with each other they saw the world in a completely different light. .:Chapterfic:. .:Edgeworth/Maya:. //Temporary HIATUS//
1. Once But Never Again

_"Things were better then,  
__Once but never again.  
__We've all left the den,  
__Let me tell you all 'bout it."_

This place of all places in Los Angeles was the _last_ one that she expectedto find Miles Edgeworth in. He hadn't changed at all, and she couldn't immediately identify his purpose for being at a convenience store. Still, Maya Fey was none the less thrilled to see a remnant from her past. After what happened with her and Nick three years ago, she had been longing to find someone or something that recognized her from five years ago. Pearl was the only companion she had, and now that she was thirteen she was training to become the head of the Fey family after Maya refused the position.

She wondered, with slight amusement, if he'd recognize her. Even she had to admit that more than one or two things changed since adolescence. The last time she had ran into Nick, he had told her that she looked a lot more like her sister. Although she didn't know whether she should interpret this as a positive or negative thing, Mia had always been the more attractive of the sisters.

"Looks like you haven't changed much, Edgeworth," she said lightly, tapping him on the shoulder. "Do you know who I am?"

He looked at her out of the corners of his eyes, shooting her the trademark condescending 'do I know you?' look. She smiled at her apparent success; he had no clue who Maya was. This seemed to give it away, though.

_"Maya?"_ he questioned in utter disbelief, turning around. It seemed as though only vague traces of the teenage girl he once knew remained. Still reeling from the transformation of the girl in front of him, she nodded gently.

"I actually thought you were in Europe. Did familiarity call to you? Or it wasn't as you expected it to be?" she asked, both playfully and seriously. "Tell me all about it, if you can afford to give someone the time of day now."

* * *

Maya. Maya Fey. He couldn't believe that the teasing, subtly sardonic woman in front of him was actually the spirited girl from the trial of Misty Fey those years ago. Her features much more defined, her body evenly proportioned, the way she carried herself...Miles Edgeworth didn't think it was physically possible for a person to grow so much in five years.

He was actually glad that he only had to answer her questions and listen to whatever input she had. He really wasn't in a talking mood, but he figured that he owed her at least this much. She seemed to be swamped down with something; light circles were forming under her eyes, and she sighed a lot more than any other person did.

As though she had been reading his mind--he wouldn't have been surprised if she actually did--Maya frowned slightly and explained her situation. "Our final exams are in a couple of weeks, and I'm way behind. Between studying for exams, looking for a decent, somewhat cheap medical school, and work, I'm pretty depressed. It's been a while since I've talked to anybody for anything other than school."

Medical school. He had not been expecting that. Maya Fey, head surgeon, suddenly popped into his head and Edgeworth couldn't get the image of her wearing a white doctor's coat out of his head. What exactly inspired her to pursue a career in the medical field?

"But," she continued, recovering quickly. "If I ace my finals and get into a nice med school, it'll be smooth sailing from there. Lawyers have it easy, they don't need to go to school as long as cardiac surgeons." She hadn't lost her optimistic and bright attitude from her youth, as far as Edgeworth could see. But then again, she had mellowed out quite a bit; she seemed calmer, more contained and cryptic.

The magnitude of how little of the original Maya Fey was left in the female standing here disconcerted him for a brief moment. Dare he even ask what was on his mind? Not knowing the best way to say it, he began awkwardly, "You...how, why did you--"

She held up a hand to stop him, her expression suddenly taking a turn for a more grave one. Maya did not want him to ask whatever he was going to ask, or rather, she didn't want to be accused of changing her character for other people. Frowning slightly, she answered him. "Things...happen, Edgeworth. I thought that you of all people would understand that." Her eyes avoided his own. "I was never the same after that trial. After I found out that I'd never see or know my mother. I guess I changed not of my own free will, but more out of self-defense. Sort of a reincarnation to forget about my old life."

Just as quickly as her expression had changed seriously, it went right back into her normal self. "But enough of that, I can deal with that on my own. What's been going on with you? Why did you stay in America?"

He leaned against a countertop, trying to regain his composure after that weighty admission by Maya, no less. Why _did_ he come back to America? What exactly had been in it for him? "I...don't know, really. I suppose you were right when you said that I wanted the familiarity."

She blinked, clearly surprised by this uncharacteristic answer. Shuffling her feet uncomfortably, Maya closed her eyes in silent contemplation, dwelling on his answer. "Still...I'm glad you're back. Really." She opened her eyes, but her face was unreadable. "I'm kind of backed into a corner with Nick, since he got disbarred." Her hand flew to her mouth; she had said something she did not intend to say and knew that she was going to pay dearly for it.

"Wright? Disbarred?" It was impossible to keep the contempt from his voice, although he knew somebody like Phoenix would crash and burn someday. Edgeworth just hadn't expected it to be so _sudden_. He had just begun his career as a defense attorney, and he went and ruined it.

"If you're not allowed to divulge the details..."

Her head snapped up and she looked almost glad that he asked. "He forged evidence," Maya said with all the emotion of a brick. She glanced at him, her eyes speaking what she couldn't say. _Reminds me of someone else I know._

He mentally noted that he admired her delicate audacity, a major difference from the painfully obvious form she made a point of exhibiting when he first met her. _You seem to be forgetting something; it was that 'painfully obvious' audacity that saved your life,_ his subconscious argued.

Her eyes slowly traveled towards the clock somewhere in there. "Well, I guess food can wait until I plow through cardiac electrophysiology and congenital heart diseases. This is going to be a pain in the ass, I can feel it..." At this point Maya was talking more to herself than Edgeworth. She briefly glanced at him and her face reddened. "Eh, I'm sorry. I'm pretty stressed. Oh well, I'll get by." She waved her hand and said, "Well, it was nice seeing you again. But you really need to talk more. I felt like I was dominating the whole conversation...then again, what can I do? I don't remember you as much of a talker anyway."

She stalked away, but before leaving called out, "You know, you really do look a lot better in a black suit."

Maya Fey left behind a flattered and very confused Miles Edgeworth.

* * *

She felt oddly satisfied after that little encounter with Edgeworth, even if he had just been listening to her go on and on. She had to admit that she felt a small sense of superiority when she described the bare basics of cardiology to him; nobody thought Maya capable of such an intense field of study. She had reasoned that even though death wasn't the end of everything, life was just as good. It was what people made of it.

Maya had problems believing herself sometimes. Moping on this depressing thought, she nearly dragged her feet up the stairs to her apartment, which could very well pass for the remains of a tornado-torn trailer. Papers, pens, and textbooks littered the floor and the small coffee table she worked at so often these past four years. She had sold off her TV and armchair to pay the rent when she had been transferring jobs, so the living room was relatively bare, much to her displeasure.

She eyed the digital clock on said coffee chair accusingly, as if it was the clock's fault that her life was going nowhere and getting there very fast. 7:50 PM. Great, she had to cram cardiac electrophysiology and all that it implied within four hours if she had any hope of waking up on time for work. Maya suddenly regretted not buying any food.

Knowing that caffeine would be necessary if she wanted to be able to haul ass until midnight, Maya dragged herself into the sorry excuse for a kitchen and boiled some water. It suddenly dawned on her, as she was pouring unhealthy amounts of sugar into a mug, that if she had enjoyed _Edgeworth's_ pathetic company then she needed to get out more. While college students were out drinking and having the times of their lives, Maya was burying herself in her studies because she tended to daydream during lectures. She frowned and poured the water into the cup and gulped it, allowing the scalding beverage to kill her tastebuds. The ramen she was living on tasted like cardboard anyway.

Another wave of depression attacked and the very real possibility that she would fail her finals and would not only have to go to summer school, her chances of getting into UCLA would be wiped out. Faced with this sudden threat, Maya felt like she was walking on a very thin, very weak tightrope.

"Well, then." She tossed her hair out of her eyes. "Let's get started..."

* * *

Pissed was the only accurate word that could describe Edgeworth when his cell phone started ringing _very loudly_ at four in the morning.

Fumbling around, he didn't recognize the caller ID but picked it up anyway. _"What?"_ he asked bitterly, not bothering to keep the irritation out of his voice. The quiet, intimidated voice on the other end made him do a double take.

"Uh...um...I'm really, really sorry for waking you up. This is Maya. I kind of need your help."

_What I want to know is how you got my phone number_, he thought absently, feeling his anger dissolve and pity set in. He wondered what had her up so late, or rather, so early. "Oh. What do you want?"

"My car broke down, and I'm supposed to be at work in an hour. It takes forty-five minutes to get there..." Edgeworth knew that she wasn't consciously making her voice sound panicked and sad, but it sounded just so. She continued weakly before he decline or accept. "I tried calling Nick, but he wasn't there and I remembered that he doesn't own a car anyway."

So he had finally achieved bum status and she couldn't turn to him. During her monologue, she implied that she wasn't talking to him anyway...

As irrefutably weird this all was, Edgeworth felt sorry for her. "Where do you live?" he asked.

"Um...oh, crap!"

There was the sound of breaking glass on the other end.

"I live on Nest Street, the brick apartment that has some Mexican restaurant by it. I'll be outside by the time you come, though, so I'll be able to find you," she said, her voice significantly brighter than before.

"...Okay then."

_You really _haven't _changed, Miss Fey._

* * *

He supposed that it was his turn to ask the questions, but truth be told he'd much rather keep them to himself. It wasn't particularly because he thought that once he got her going she wouldn't stop; rather, he knew that the questions he had would more than likely emotionally distress her. She seemed to be occupied with looking out the window, anyway. There was, however, a something pressing he wanted to ask Maya...

"Maya..."

Her head jerked away from the window, looking like a deer in the headlights, so the saying went. Had he scared her?

"Are you really okay?" Alright, that really wasn't what he had wanted to ask her, but instinct kicked in and sensed that she was hiding something. Her shoulders sagged and she avoided his eyes. She assumed that her body language said it all, but his eyes pressed for a further explanation.

She looked at Edgeworth like he was consciously attempting to make her feel more depressed than she already was. "I knew you liked to angst, but jeez, don't try to pull me down with you. I've just got stupid temporary problems anyway, it's nothing to be concerned about. I'm sure your problems are a lot worse, considering you're a tortured soul and all that."

Oh God. He was actually _amused_ by this rather than irritated. What was wrong with him?

She crossed her right leg over her left and folded her arms, looking out the window yet again. Edgeworth had to admit that she looked nice in formal clothes. What exactly did she do, anyway? The only thing that prevented him from asking was the sourceless tension that had decided to situate itself between them. Nevertheless, Maya managed to rip her eyes away from the window and stared at him for more than just a minute, almost inviting him to interrogate her.

"So..." _Great, Edgeworth. You're so smooth in court and yet you can't even summon the right words to talk to a girl you've known for years. That's just wonderful._ "What do you do?"

She pretended like she hadn't coerced him at all. "I'm a secretary for a pediatrician. I figured it was pretty easy, and the guy didn't seem to ask for much, so I went ahead with it," she told him, fiddling with an earring. If her body language was any indication, she was mortally terrified of him. He couldn't really blame her, since she knew him only by association with Wright and from what she saw he was a cold, unfeeling prick. Unsurprisingly, he found himself agreeing with her, if those indeed were her thoughts.

"I see," he said, not knowing what else to say. Things stayed like that until he dropped her off. Although she said thanked him, her face didn't, and his heart dropped more than it should have.


	2. I Lied, I Lied To Me Too

"_So what, I lied to you, I lied to me too.__  
So what, I lied to you, I lied to me too.__So what?  
Hold out for the ones you know will love you,  
Hide out from the ones you know will love you, too." _

The world seemed so much better now that finals were done. Life seemed that much more tolerable. Maya acknowledged that this was likely a short lived joy and that in a matter of days, or even hours, she was going to be pushed back into her usual cloud of cynicism. It was really amazing what college could do to a person. With a degree of embarrassment, she remembered how optimistic and cheerful she was back when she had been working with Nick.

Maya wasn't stupid enough to think that she wasn't still slightly in love with Phoenix. She had been rather adept at hiding her feelings back then, and he didn't suspect a thing. Then again, it could've also been because he was oblivious to life most of the time. If he was so blind when it came to the whole situation with Dahlia and Iris, then why should he be any more attentive with Maya? Absently circling a word in a word find, sitting on a bench in the park, she felt painfully alone. The streetlight's radiance was slowly dying out—_They probably haven't changed that bulb in years,_ she mused absently—and it was nearing rush hour. This being a major route in Los Angeles, Maya decided that it would be amusing to watch the different kinds of people who pulled up in front of her. The first time she ever visited a city when she was younger, she delighted in keeping track of the colors of all the cars that passed. Had the number been anything greater than four, she would lose track and start all over again.

She had been sitting on a bench in a quieter section of the only local park, debating the pros and cons of going home. Knowing her wild group of neighbors, they'd drag her to a bar or something to celebrate the ending of hell. Maya never understood why they didn't just wait until graduation to get drunk off their ass. Not knowing what it was like to be even slightly tipsy, she didn't think it very glamorous to act like a retard. She suspected that people liked to loosen up, but many were the types to take it slightly too far.

It hadn't even been an hour since a massive burden had been lifted from her shoulders and here she was, going right back to the way she was. Why couldn't she appreciate anything?

Lifting her head, she rubbed her eyes and watched as the traffic slowly started to worsen. She had to say, she loved watching people bitch and moan about various things. Maya wondered whether or not they would feel better if somebody listened to them. The world would be in serious trouble if everybody else was like her; full of problems and without somebody to talk to. That wasn't likely, considering she was a special case. She knew another 'special' case too…only, he voluntarily didn't confide in anyone. Maya supposed that there were people like that, where they were better off not talking to anybody and sifting through their problems on their own.

Early June always proved to be the calm before the storm in some way or another. The air tonight was perfect; not too cool as to require a jacket, and not too hot to be uncomfortable. Maya knew that this was going to change in a couple of weeks or so. Maybe she should do this more often. Sitting outside, watching life occur, proved to be therapeutic for her nerves. It was a welcome change from locking herself in her apartment all day, listening to her neighbors whine about how loud the music she was playing was. At least here, there was a sense of calm…

Just as she was beginning to feel at ease, an invasive, uninvited thought came to her mind; _What if Nick were here?_

Caught completely off guard, Maya's body tensed up at the thought of Phoenix. Many things ran through her mind whenever he happened to become the object of her thoughts. A part of her had never believed that he really forged evidence and that he had been set up the entire time. She would ask him for the truth herself, if she knew something, _anything_ about his current life. It really was like the old Nick she knew had disappeared…if only she knew what to do, maybe something could be done. Maya knew that she wasn't really skilled when it came to the law field, but never before had she felt the repercussions so fiercely. She felt so utterly helpless that she couldn't give the man who had saved her life his own life back.

Well, there was nothing to be done. She figured that if Nick really cared about what happened he'd try to fix it himself.

She felt the familiar sting of tears start to spring up from behind her eyes, threatening to spill out. Damn it! Lately her emotions were completely beyond her control. Every time she was even remotely satisfied with her life, something just had to come and remind her that she was confined to a life of agony and suffering. The trial for her mother's killer deemed it so! Basking in this thought, she suddenly felt like curdling milk in the face of adversity.

This idea—or rather, mental image alone—was enough to make her laugh, and that was all she needed.

* * *

The partying continued for a week or so in the section of the city that Maya lived in. Drunken sex was had, fights occurred, the essentials to the loose cannon nature of the beginning of summer. Bars were blackmailed and coerced into extending their hours into the early morning, and by that time everybody was too wasted to care about work or what time it was. She was invited to join her neighbors—a group of unruly fine arts girls—in their antics, but she politely declined and preferred to keep looking for medical schools to apply to. Maya desperately needed to apply to a few places, just to break into the whole business of dressing up her credentials to make her sound remotely accomplished.

She was sitting on the sofa, revising her résumé, electronic blasting out of her stereo. Paying an extra twenty dollars a month for satellite radio did have its advantages, whether people wanted to acknowledge it or not. Through this deafening volume, she faintly heard yelling…Sitting up, Maya figured that the screaming must rival the music's volume if she could hear it. Hopping off the sofa, she turned down the dial on the stereo and listened carefully.

There was no mistaking it; there was earth shattering verbal violence going on a few doors down.

She did not necessarily want to get involved, but something in her gut told her that this wasn't going to end well if it went on without intervention. Quietly opening her door and venturing outside of her apartment, Maya listened carefully to tell which direction the yelling was coming from. When she couldn't identify it, she randomly settled on the left and tiptoed to the end of the hall.

"…Why do you keep denying what you did?! I saw you do it with my own eyes! I'm not that old yet!"

"It doesn't matter if you know this or not. It won't make a difference."

Maya's stomach did a backflip and her subconscious demanded that she run before something possibly traumatizing happened.

Her subconscious, however, had no power over her paralyzed self, which had her ear glued to the wall. _Just run away, Maya, and nothing will happen_, one part of her argued. Granted, she didn't want to stick around but her legs abruptly turned to jelly. After a couple of minutes, the voices—two women—lowered, but became much more charged. Maya felt a wave of relief wash over her. This wasn't going to end in the disaster that she had envisioned.

The opening of a door.

_Who are you?_

And then, nothing.

* * *

He had to read the article several times over before he could finally assemble something even tenuously logical in his mind. Oh wait. He couldn't, his psyche was too busy wondering what the hell had happened to Maya Fey.

"_At approximately 9:25 PM on June 6th, 2023, the police were called to an unidentified apartment building in the upper college district of Los Angeles. What they found was nothing short of shocking; two women, one dead and the other teetering between life and death, clearly murder and attempted murder, respectively. The assailant had fled the scene, leaving behind nothing other than the two victims to prove that the crime had occurred._

_The call was made after a nearby resident heard several gunshots from the floor below. The first victim, identified as Brianne Weiss, was confirmed to have been killed by two gunshot wounds to the skull. The second victim was Maya Fey, who had been shot between her shoulder and collarbone and nearly died of blood loss by the time the paramedics arrived. She is currently recuperating in St. Ives Hospital's ICU."_

He just couldn't wrap his mind around anything other than the fact that she had nearly died for the second time in her life. He mentally counted the tragedies that had occurred in this girl's life. She was too young to have known her mother, and thus grew up without her, still with the hope that she'd see said mother again. Her sister, the only person she had come to trust, was killed, and the corpse was found by none other than Maya herself. She was accused of murdering her sister (something he had believed at the time, he grudgingly acknowledged). It hadn't been two years before she was put on the stand for murder yet again. During that trial, her life had been in extreme danger more than once. She discovered that she would never see her mother's face and was traumatized beyond words. And now, Maya Fey had more than likely witnessed a horrific event in action and was in turn nearly killed herself.

His mind suddenly raced with possibilities, all of them more alarming and sickening than the previous. What if she was afraid to trust anyone again? What if she locked herself in her house? What if she didn't even feel _safe_ inside her house?

What if this had been the final thread that needed to be cut before she completely snapped and was utterly destroyed?

In previous years, Edgeworth could not say with any measure of certainty that he cared for Maya beyond her connections with Phoenix. He had trusted Wright, her little cousin, and basically everyone except himself to support her through the challenging times that seemed to perpetually follow Maya around. What had become of her now? Something had evidently occurred between her and Wright that she didn't even want to talk about him, and as far as Edgeworth knew the little girl had gone back to Kurain. Everything that had once been Maya's entire life had unexpectedly evaporated, and she had been left to deal with an iniquitous and cheating world all by herself.

In that moment, Edgeworth had an intense and justified loathing for Wright. The defense attorney that had fallen from grace abandoned his assistant, who no doubt loved him with every fiber of her being. Maya would have gone to the ends of the earth if it meant pleasing Wright. In any other situation, Edgeworth would have looked at this undying loyalty as a fatal weakness. And yet, there was no one else who wanted her attention. Even her sister had wiped away all the traces of her life in Kurain, and this included Maya.

Sitting there in his office, while the world went by, he knew that Maya Fey would be broken beyond repair if she had nothing to hold on to.

He made the groundless assumption that she would be sleeping, or at least dozing when he arrived. Much to his surprise and, oddly enough, pleasure, she was awake, albeit staring blankly out the window. Sitting up, the right side of her body sagged noticeably. Maya's eyes briefly flickered over to him in silent recognition that he was indeed in the room and alive. She still did not tear her head away from the window.

Edgeworth had decided that it would be useless to beat around the bush and would indubitably make her float away more than she already had. "I know that you're not going to talk, but you have to," he said simply, knowing that it wouldn't elicit even the slightest answer from her. Her body only tensed in response. Did he see her lip quivering?

Slowly, she shifted her body so that she was facing him. Her expression transformed into anger, and she looked away. Her voice was completely serious, absolutely unlike her. "I hoped you wouldn't come. I didn't want you to see me. Not like this."

…

_Please don't tell me that she just said what I think she said._

A slow smile broke across her face, but tears started to flow freely from her eyes. "I'm sorry. I really _didn't_ want you to see me like this," she pleaded lightly, turning away.

"I don't want anybody to see me like this. But…" Maya trailed off momentarily, her gaze becoming misty. "I want a lot of things, don't I?"

Edgeworth couldn't find the right thing to say to this. Was there a right thing? Was there anything he could say without making her feel worse than she already did? He figured that he could at least stop being his usual demonic self.

"You want to forget."

She nodded.

"But do you think that by not talking about it you'll feel any better?" He knew that he was treading on thin ice, but he couldn't care less at the moment. The cogs in the back of his mind had already started working, and he figured that he'd be the one taking this case. "Did it ever help you to keep everything inside?"

"Don't talk like you know me!"

"I know you better than you think," he retaliated without skipping a beat.

She squirmed for a minute, aware that he was waiting for her to say something. Maya had made it clear that she didn't understand his purpose for being there, so he took the practical approach.

"You do know that you're going to be testifying in court," he told her simply, knowing full well the kind of reaction he'd get.

Her head swung around before he even finished speaking. Her expression was nothing less than Edgeworth had anticipated; she was in blatant distress at the thought of having to go back up on that stand. "Why?" she asked quietly, pleading with her eyes. _Please, don't make me relive what happened._

He shrugged his shoulders. "You were the only witness. If you don't testify, the killer gets away…if they find the killer, that is." He said this with an air of apathy, as if they were discussing the weather or any other trivial matter. Having been a prosecutor for eleven years, he knew that this could make nearly anyone talk. Under pressure, people were more predisposed to lying. When they didn't feel threatened, they were looser in their attitudes, more willing to disclose the details without fabricating or holding anything back.

However, she had also been the assistant of a defense attorney and knew more than any other person. That said, Maya was not even close to being convinced. "I don't know where she went. I don't remember anything except for hearing two women yelling at each other and going down the hall to hear what was going on," she admitted, shifting around. Of course, she knew more than she was telling him, typical of people who had seen a traumatic event of that caliber.

"It seems that I'm a pretty big burden on the world, considering how many times people have tried to kill me," Maya said to herself, looking out the window again. She took a deep breath.

"Sometimes I think I should just let them kill me."

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry to ruin the moment, but this your author speaking. I'm going to warn you from this point on that I'm going to deviate away from canon. Big time. I've already done so a little bit, but this is going to lead to this being a pseudo AU story. If you're an Apollo Justice fan, you're not going to like this. Please just take my word for it instead of leaving a nasty review reminding me of what I already know. These changes are totally intentional.

Remember in the beginning of the chapter that there was phrase called 'like milk curdling in the face of adversity'? That's an allusion to what a newspaper said about Thomas Jefferson during the War of 1812. As for the songs that I quote, you can find them in my profile under the updates section. When this story goes on longer, I'll make a specific section for it.


	3. What's A Girl To Do To Be Content

"_She used to be the flirting kind,__  
But the boy loved her anyway,  
__He made up his mind.  
She said, What's a girl to do to be content?"_

The past two weeks had been uncontested in difficulty, in Maya's humble opinion. After having surgery to reconstruct the tissue that she had lost and fix other damages, she was on a morphine drip for three days, always tottering between different levels of consciousness. She vaguely remembered Edgeworth coming a few times, with her spouting off nonsense, most likely. The police had finally arrested a suspect and were done with the investigation at her apartment, so she was free to go back. The trial was in two days, and as nervous as she thought she'd be, she had become completely numb to these kinds of situations.

Opening her mailbox, she expected many things, the last of which being her exam results, yet there they were, in the smooth envelope with her school's crest on it. Maya's heart skipped a beat and she could only imagine what she would find inside. Gathering the rest of her mail, she hopped up each flight of stairs with more energy than she possessed. No words could possibly describe the rainbow of emotions she was experiencing all at once, the sense of urgency that went with each step she took.

Slamming the door behind her, Maya settled on the sofa, careful not to agitate the still tender residue of the surgery. Her hand trembling, she ripped the envelope open and out fell two pieces of paper. She skipped the first few paragraphs of the first page, already knowing what they were about; what the exams were for, how they'd affect their college applications, etc. They read like a letter home to parents in elementary school. This was an insult to the students' intelligence. Maya focused on the small list that started on the bottom of the page.

_Biochemistry: 92  
Circulation: 100  
Electricity: 86  
Atomic Physics: 89  
Elements: 91  
Energy: 95  
General Sciences: 81  
Grossanatomy: 64  
Integumentary: 98  
Lymphatic System: 70 _

She breathed a sigh of relief. So far, so good. The only thing she had glaringly done badly on was grossanatomy. She turned over to the next page. This, of course, would be the deciding factor in whether or not she did well or superb. Maya held her breath.

_Microbiology: 68  
Motion Analysis: 93  
Nervous System: 90  
Neuroanatomy: 99  
Nuclear Physics: 48  
Nutrition: 100  
Optics: 100  
Organic Chemistries: 76  
Physiology: 94  
Pressure Chemistry: 99  
Reactions: 81  
Reading: 100  
Reproduction: 84  
Respiration: 100  
Urinary System: 34  
Vocabulary: 88  
Waves: 55_

_Total Average Score: 90 _

_Above Average_

_You ranked __**No. 18 **__in your class, out of __**383 students.**_

Her eyes had to be deceiving her. She had deluded herself into believing that she had done better than she actually did. They mailed it to the wrong person. They made a computing mistake. There were a thousand reasons she came up with that this couldn't possibly her letter. Maya flipped the envelope over. It clearly said her name in bold print: 'Maya Fey.' She concluded that she would have gotten a call by now if they had made a mistake.

When she finally realized that this was indeed her letter, she couldn't hold back the euphoria that had managed to explode from the hidden reserves that she shelved for such occasions. "_Oh my God, yes!" _she screamed, jumping up, shrieking in delight. The ripping pain in her shoulder went ignored as she was too absorbed in her own glee to care.

Today was a wonderful day to be alive.

* * *

Not unsurprisingly, her neighbors didn't fare as well as she did. They graduated in the bottom quarter of their class and moped around in their apartment, not one of the four girls coming out to do anything other than get the mail or pay the bills. She knew that she was terrible for it, but Maya couldn't help but feel a sense of superiority over them. They were nice and meant well, but they couldn't work seriously to save their lives.

One of them had approached Maya on her way out of the apartment saying they were all sorry that they couldn't come to the trial. The girl's eyes never left the slightly bloody bandage that was plastered on her bare shoulder. Maya knew that she would have to get used to this if she had any hope of functioning in the outside world. She just nodded politely and said that if she didn't hurry she was going to be late, blah. She was sick and tired of repeating the same things to everyone.

"How did you do on your finals?" the girl—Gianna, her name was—asked, probably hoping that the question wouldn't be shot back at her.

"I'm eighteenth in my class, apparently. Not a lot of people are cut out for being involved in medicine, if this year's scores are any indication," Maya said, praying that she didn't come off as rude or haughty. Truth be told, she did want to flash her feathers a little bit. Didn't she deserve it with all the hard work she had done and the results they produced?

Gianna's head tilted slightly to the side. "Good point. Remember last year's scores for the seniors majoring in medical science? Fifteen of them had perfect scores, as opposed to this year's two. Looks like UCLA's gonna have to drop their godly standards," she observed. "But I'll see you around, then."

After exchanging farewells, Maya walked away, glad to have escaped a multi-hour conversation. Still, her mind drifted to thoughts of UCLA's standards; if her college was doing poorly, who was to say that the other colleges in Los Angeles were doing any better or worse? Their acceptance rate was twenty-three percent, which was fair enough for a public Ivy League school. The School of Medicine, however, accepted only an average of five out of every hundred applicants. This was a grim enough number to scare away most med students, and many weren't up to the grueling work that UCLA expected from them.

None of this mattered to Maya, however; she didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting accepted into that university. She would apply, of course, but only for the humor of saying that she applied. Besides, it was a filler until she could do research on other schools and see if she could apply to them in all seriousness.

It was a fifteen minute walk to the courthouse, and the trial started in forty-five. Maybe now was a good time to get used to the stares she was going to get.

* * *

He was in a terrible mood, so it made him feel slightly better when he saw Maya, now in sound mind and body, nearly glowing with pleasure. He didn't want the most vital witness to be in no mood to recount what happened.

Walking towards her in the prosecution lobby, Edgeworth tried to keep the irritability out of his voice when he said, "Dare I ask what you're so happy about?" He inwardly smirked when he thought of the utter babble she went on about when she was on the morphine drip in the hospital. Something about the moon and the ocean. He couldn't remember a time where he had been more amused.

Instead of an answer, he had two pieces of paper shoved towards him. He couldn't have any fainter of an idea what they could be.

He finally registered that these were her exam results, the original Ten Commandments as far as Maya was concerned, apparently. He couldn't understand most of what it said—what the hell was 'grossanatomy'?—but it was clear that she had done much better than she expected.

"Damn it, Edgeworth, just read the middle of the second page! Jeez, you're not exactly on the intelligent side today, are you?"

He managed to hold back a very vulgar comment and instead turned to the second page and scrolled his eyes down to the middle, where lo and behold, there were the words of Maya Fey's dreams.

_Total Average Score: 90 _

_Above Average_

_You ranked __**No. 18 **__in your class, out of __**383 students.**_

Edgeworth was impressed. More than just impressed; he was in utter disbelief when he thought of the girl from five years ago, who probably couldn't even master square roots. Considering her major and the fierce competition in said field, this was a massive milestone in the life and times of an ex-spirit medium. He wondered how people had been forced to read this, but he supposed that she had the right to bask in her own glory.

"You can't possibly be more surprised than I am," she said doubtfully, taking the papers from him. "I'm glad I was in the privacy of my own home when I read it."

He didn't want to imagine what that implied.

Already knowing the answer, Edgeworth still asked what was on his mind. "Is there a reason you came? You're not supposed to testify for another two days…"

Maya's dark eyes widened, very blatantly caught off guard by such a question. "I don't really have anywhere else to be. I won't be able to move by arm for the next two weeks, so I can't go to work, and school's over." She appeared pensive for a long moment before adding, with humor in her voice, "I guess I'm in for a long two weeks, aren't I?"

He felt a surge of mysterious sympathy, so much that it made him inadvertently frown. Could this girl's life get any worse?

She waved her hand, dismissing the subject. "Two weeks go by very fast when you need to catch up on sleep." She shifted her weight to the other leg, smiling brightly, tempted by the notion of rest.

Someone in the distance announced that the trial was starting. His gaze met hers and he told her, "Don't exert yourself too much, Maya."

That trademark smile never departing from her lips, Maya nodded. "_You_ don't exert yourself too much. I'm fine…" She turned around, starting to walk away. When she came to the doors, she called out, "I trust you, Miles!" With that, she disappeared to venture off to go God knows where.

Why was it that she always left him feeling something very strange in his chest? Did she do this on purpose?

Maya Fey was truly something else.

* * *

She had scurried off not because she was bored, but because being in the courthouse reminded her too much of the days she used to spend there, the days that would forever be embedded in the banks of her memory. She couldn't help but be nostalgic when it came to such things, yet she couldn't bring herself to leave California. If she truly wanted to escape the reminiscences, then she would have to adopt a new name and life somewhere half way around the world. Maybe in Japan.

Mayoi Ayasato. It had a nice ring.

Walking aimlessly, she went over what she already knew; the first day of the trial went end at 4:30 PM, four hours from now. From what she remembered about Nick's trials, there would be a ten minute recess in an hour or so. Damn it, what was she supposed to do for an entire hour outside of the house?

She realized that she appreciated Edgeworth's company far more than she thought she would. He wasn't exactly the most exciting of men, but at least he listened. If he came back after whatever she ranted about while doped up, then Maya could only assume that he was unlike most men in that he willingly heard people out. Did it come with being a lawyer?

_Tch, what am I supposed to do for the next sixty minutes?_ she asked herself with a very strong degree of displeasure. She could go back home, but that idea wasn't exactly all that tantalizing either. A very conflicted and terribly irked Maya plopped herself down on a bench, fully prepared to spend the next hour thinking of things to do. The irony, of course, did not surpass her.

He came out from the courtroom even more angered than he was upon going in there, even if his flaming temper had been mildly appeased by Maya's encouragement. That being the case, he hadn't expected to see her sitting on the sofa in the prosecution lobby, looking immensely pissed off. Something told him that he was better off avoiding her, but he still found himself gravitating towards her. Misery did love company, after all.

"How did it go?" she asked with absolutely no interest in her voice. If this had been anybody else, Edgeworth wouldn't have been surprised.

"She's backed into a corner. She'll more than likely confess before you have to go back up on the stand," he explained lucidly, noting how she was tapping her nails against the upholstery.

Maya's expression flickered between neutral and melancholy, recollecting what it had been like the last time she was called as a witness. Still, she managed to pull herself together in record time and breathed deeply. "Well, there's not much to say, you know? I don't know why they were arguing or anything, I just wanted to see where the noise was coming from," she said, shrugging her shoulders. She flashed her trademark grin, apparently in a much better mood. "I'm okay, though."

He sighed, letting some of his weariness go. It was extremely difficult to stay bothered in Maya's presence, he had discovered. He didn't even think to ask what had been the original source of her annoyance—not that it mattered anymore, as she was giving off her usual radiance now. He simply could not fathom that girl.

* * *

Three hours later, Miles Edgeworth was in a mood from hell as far as Maya could tell.

She was sitting on the stone banister of the courthouse steps, swinging her feet and watching people come and go. She made a mental note of their emotions, and she could not remember anybody passing by that day that looked stormier than he did. When he averted his gaze to meet hers, Maya wanted to melt into the ground and not come out for a very long time, and she had seen the many different faces of Edgeworth before.

"Er, it wouldn't be a very good idea to talk, would it?" she asked rhetorically, hoping to God that he would take the hint and not answer. She, of course, was in no position to hope for anything and figured that it would be best just to hover in the background.

Hopping off of the banister, she silently joined him in the trek down the staircase from hell. _Oh yes_, she thought grimly. _He is definitely not in a mood to talk. I wonder what happened in there._

Catching her off guard, he opened his mouth to say something but closed it. She raised an eyebrow, wondering what he could possibly have to say to her in a mood like this. Maya knew better than to force Edgeworth to say something he had no intention of saying, but she did have to bite her lip to prevent curiosity from taking over.

When they reached the bottom of the steps, she blurted out, "Did something happen?" So much for keeping her thoughts to herself. She silently congratulated herself on not directly questioning his emotions, which would no doubt piss him off even more.

He turned around to face her, an inquisitive expression gracing his features. Her onyx eyes looked into his steel ones and the intensity was too much for her. She blushed furiously and turned away, mumbling, "You're upset." There was no way in hell that he could be anything other than upset.

Edgeworth appeared contemplative for a minute, not knowing what to say. It was a simple enough question, she figured; a yes or a no would suffice. Wait a minute. This was Miles Edgeworth. Yes or no _wouldn't_ suffice.

"No, nothing happened. I'm just not—"

"In a good mood," she finished for him, sighing. "That makes two of us. I'm more tired than upset, though." Maya looked back up to see him scrutinizing her with a concentration she had never seen before; at least, not in him. She took an instinctive step backward, her heart racing at an unhealthy rate. How could _Edgeworth_ of all people make her feel so flustered? Maya concluded that it wasn't him who was making her feel like a swooning schoolgirl, but the way he was looking at her. Nobody had looked at her like that before.

A slow but very sure smirk was what she found when she regained her composure. She blinked once, she blinked twice before finally understood that he had been doing that with the full intention of discomfiting her. She looked at him in utter disbelief, not being able to wrap her mind around the fact that yes, Edgeworth enjoyed making her look like the immature seventeen-year-old she once was.

"That's low, Miles. Really, really low."

"I'm hurt that you feel that way," he said with mock offense in his voice.

"Since when do you use childish sarcasm?"

"Since now."

"I thought you were in a bad mood."

"I was."

"Then why are you so calm all of a sudden?"

"I can't take you seriously when you say that you're in a bad mood. It's impossible for you."

"And how do you know this?"

"Because."

"Are you _teasing _me?"

Suffice to say that this went on for quite a while before they parted ways, feeling significantly better than before.


End file.
